Morfydd St. Clair

Oh, and this is not remotely a congee, but soothing savory rice:  from An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler

Rice and lettuce soup

1 1/2 onions medium diced
2 Tablespoons butter
Salt
1/3 parsley leaves roughly chopped
1/2 cup Arborio rice
8 1/2 cups chicken stock or chicken stock and water
1 very big head lettuce, romaine or crisp leaf, about 16 cups very loosely packed

Cook the onions in butter in a medium sized pot , adding salt to taste, until soft. Add parsley, rice and liquid. Let it cook for about 50 minutes until the rice is thoroughly cooked and getting ragged looking, then turn off the heat.

Whenever you’re ready to eat, slice the lettuce into thin ribbons, add it to the soup, and stir in.

I admit I rarely add the parsley (one can also use whatever herb you love) and play with the ratios a lot.  But it’s savory-soothing with bright lettuce crunch and ridiculously easy to make.

The book in general is charming with an emphasis on frugality.  There’s not a lot of spice action in it, but an emphasis on really enjoying good quality vegetables.

I’ve used this recipe https://delightfulplate.com/wprm_print/4235
and it was great.  I can’t really buy fish scraps (so irritating, in a town known for fishing!) and fish steaks are so expensive… but a friend gave me some fillets from his fishing hobby.

There’s also a Vietnamese place nearby that serves fish congee as an appetizer and it’s enough for the perfect comfort meal.

I used to do seasonal work for the tax prep company with a big green square.  If you have registered your company as an LLC or something, they are not best suited to help you; you’ll need an accountant.  On the bright side, you shouldn’t need to register your company in most cases. You can get away with a Schedule C for a sole proprietorship.

Said green-ish company is not cheap, but might be a good idea for the first time you dip your toes into filing for your sole proprietorship.  Afterwards you can see what forms they filled out and copy their work.  

Just, for the love of Pete, please don’t show up on the 15th for the first time.  If you’re using help (friends, volunteers, paid people) show up early and try to be done by the end of March.  (If you can’t complete your return, you can generally have an idea of how much you’ll owe, which you can send in along with an extension request, which will give you another few months. ETA: if you don’t owe anything, you technically have up to three years to file.)

It’s been a couple of decades, but I’m still traumatized by the April 15th I showed up sick as a dog to complete some returns for known clients.  A random person showed up with a file box of receipts and a Schedule K.  I burst into tears.  My manager dragged her into the back office, filed an extension request, and loudly scolded her.  And then I went home and slept for a week.

Ooh, the notes with colors are fascinating! And really distracting for me.

Duolingo has a “Music” lesson plan that is kind of fun and interactive.  If you’re paying for DL anyway it might be helpful.

Thanks for responding.  It does sound tough.   I only found one seed supplier that doesn't look sketchy (I'm in Europe, though). It looks like it caters to the professional trade.  Which makes sense - I only see lisianthus in florists and rarely in gardens.  

Best of luck with your new attempt!

Jen Fulkerson wrote:random acts of kindness are always uplifting. It's easy these days to question humanity. I work for a co-op, and last year I got to cashier in the outside nursery. A customer who was a nice but a quiet regular came through my line. Some how we started to talk about lisianthus. She grows them, and I had just ordered seeds. We had a nice chat. About 20 minutes later she came back with a little glass vase and her last lisianthus of the season, with a little note saying maybe we could share so we both have a bigger verity.
I was so touched. I'm not poor me, but I love sharing my flowers, and no one I know really grows flowers, so I don't get flowers. It fine because I get joy from sharing, but I have to admit it was very appreciated.  I hope to be able to share with her, though so far no luck with germination.
Thanks for sharing your story, it's very uplifting.

Oh, lovely!  I adore lisianthus - is it difficult to grow?  Do you have tips?

Regarding onions specifically, when I was growing up Walla Walla Sweets were a delicacy.  (Still are.) So I don’t associate big onions with less flavor.

Here in Germany, they call the big ones Vegetable Onions.  Unless they’re much more expensive I buy them because 1) I’m lazy and would rather peel/chop one onion than three 2) they seem to last longer.  They do have a milder flavor, but I always add more than a recipe calls for anyway, and I can’t really tell when it’s cooked.

Meanwhile, I’ve totally lost track of what “one onion” means to the author in a recipe. Please for the love of Pete include grams, or at least cups, in your recipe.

Laura Trovillion wrote:Has anyone tried using currants or goumi berries for their clafouti? Always on the lookout for new ways to use these fruits!

Sorry to reply so late, but yes! Currants work great in clafoutis.  I don’t usually add sugar to my recipe (above) but I toss red currants in quite a bit of sugar as they’re sour. (I usually like them sour but comfort desserts are different. )

We usually don't have a tree because we travel for the holidays, but, yes, the wreath on the door is still there.  I am telling myself that I will take it to the garden when I go next.  I will probably forget.

I think that many things are random, but the larger effect follows a pattern.  For the fallen-leaf example, a leaf falls randomly (subject to wind, etc.) but fallen leaves will accumulate, and thus be noticed by us, based on patterns like: a depression in the ground, or an obstacle making the wind suddenly drop.

Another example: evolution is caused by random mutations.  The mutations that are passed on are largely passed on because they make the owner more likely to have viable offspring.  Those advantages follow patterns - brighter plumage->more mates, or malaria resistance->more surviving children.